1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plate handling apparatus having an improved plate feeder for sequentially feeding a stack of plates to a pick-up assembly. More particularly, the invention relates to a plate feeder that creates a gap between the stack of plates and the pick-up assembly during rotation of the pick-up assembly so that the forwardmost plate in the stack does not strike the remaining plates in the stack as it is removed and rotated away from the stack by the pick-up assembly.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many industrial operations require that individual plates be removed from a stack and delivered serially to another location for processing. For example, lead plates used in the production of lead acid storage batteries are typically stacked during their manufacture. The plates in the stack must be individually removed from the stack for enveloping each plate in insulative material.
Plate handling devices including feeder mechanisms that sequentially feed a stack of plates to a pick-up assembly are commonly used for this purpose. The pick-up assemblies typically include a rotating vacuum cylinder that pulls the forwardmost plate from the stack during each rotation of the cylinder.
A significant problem with this type of rotating vacuum cylinder is that after it removes a plate from a stack, the trailing edge of the removed plate often strikes the remaining plates in the stack as the vacuum cylinder continues to rotate. This disorients the remaining plates in the stack and often dislodges the removed plate from the vacuum cylinder.
Accordingly, it is advantageous to create a gap between the stack of plates and the pick-up assembly before the rotating vacuum cylinder removes a plate from the stack. One common method for accomplishing this is to equip the vacuum cylinder with at least one outwardly extending roller or lever positioned ahead of the pick-up snout on the cylinder. The roller or lever contacts the frontmost plate in the stack and pushes the stack of plates rearward immediately before the snout removes the forwardmost plate from the stack. Unfortunately, these rollers or levers exert a significant amount of force on the front faces of the plates and therefore often damage the plates during their removal.